Hi,I just got a NAS and cannot do much with it. There are just too many things to setup just to get basic drive sharing, and then comes qnapCloud, which just fails, asking for a QNAP ID I don't know how to create. Searching for QNAP ID, I got clues about qnapCloud, tried to create an account, and am asked ONCE AGAIN to supply a serial number. I really cannot get the serial number, it is too hard for me to locate, I am visually impaired and I just cannot find it on the device. If I search long enough, I may be able to find something, but it will be too small to read, from my past experiences. It is really bad that now, each product requires a registration step consisting of transcribing a serial number, especially when the product has a web interface that can transmit that number automatically if need be.

From all this, I now know that what I need is pretty much a simple Linux box with SSH/SFTP access. I thought a NAS would help me for the configuration of the RAID, which Ubuntu does not expose well (had to deal with complex commands instead of a GUI), but it just adds too much stuff I don't understand and don't really need. But it's too late, I'm stuck with the unit. Yes, I can pull the drives out and put them in my HTPC, but I would have wasted hundreds of dollars if I do this.

Is it possible to replace this bulky firmware with a simple Linux system? Fortunately, I picked an Intel NAS, so maybe a Ubuntu would work there, but not sure, I'll have to investigate.

To sign-up for a QNAP ID (QID, QNAP Account) there is no serial number requested. https://myqnapcloud.com/ -> Sign-up (or if called direct https://account.qnap.com/signup ) does require a Nickname, Email Address or Mobile Phone number, and a Password. Alternate, an existing Google of Facebook ID can be used.

To register the NAS with myQNAPcloud, use the App with the very same name, requiring QNAP ID data and a unique name for your NAS. Any additional data like Serial Number, MAC Addresses, ... is provided direct from the NAS - there is no need ever to key in the serial number.

Even for the support - the Helpdesk App on the NAS QTS Desktop (Web UI) can bring the required information direct to the QNAP Helpdesk system. The only reason to keep a note with the serial number would be if you need to contact the QNAP customer service without NAS Access or your distributor/re-seller in case of a warranty exchange.

Of course, QTS is a giant ship, allowing to configure even complex things - thus it requires some time to read and understand the Web UI and work into it. Once you get the bigger picture, things are highly simplified to work with QTS instead of any native Linux distro.